Adjustable jamb for shower stall doors



Patented May 26, 1942 l 1 UNITED STAT E pf ADJUSTABLE JAMB FOR SHOWER STALL ORS William Stahl, Los Angeles, Calif as'signor to 'John M. Stahl, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application July 1, 1939, Serial No. 282,455

2 Claims. (01. 189-46) My invention relates to. doors for shower stalls and the like,and wherein is frequently encountered the difficulty of hanging the door properly in the doorway so that it is movable without binding to open and closed positions, and of properly closing the doorway when in closed position. Such difiiculty and the attendant disadvantages arise from two causes. First, that the doorway may be so built thatit is not of uniform width from top to bottom, and hence its side walls are not parallel and vertical. Consequently, a door having parallel side edges cannot be properly hung in the irregularly shaped doorway., Second, that although thedoorway may be built with parallel sides, when applying tiling as in shower stall doorways, frequently the tilepieces are irregularly laid, thus, producing an undulated surface and thereby destroying the parallelism of the finished sides of the doorway.

It is a purpose of my invention to cure the first of the above-recited-causes by the provision 'of at least one door jamb, but preferably two, either one or both of which is adjustable to compensate for variation in width of a doorway and in such manner that the doorway is rendered uniform in width to allow proper hanging of the door.

It is also a purpose of my invention to providea two part door jamb' having a fixed part adapted to be secured to one vertical tile wall of the doorway, which is of suflicient flexibility to permit conformation thereof to the tiled surface, if irregular, so as to lie contiguous to such surface throughout its, length, and thus form a closed joint between the two; and a rigid and straight part secured adjustably on the flexible part to provide a straight and vertical edge for the jamb.

A further purpose of my invention is the provision of a door jamb having formed therein a keeper for a door latch and where the keeper is effective to co-act with the latch toretain the door in closed position irrespective of any sagging of the door.

I will describe only two forms of door jambs embodying my invention, and will then point out the novel features thereof in claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a view showing in front inside elevation the doorway and door of'a shower stall, and two forms of door jambs applied to the doorway and embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing in outside elevation one of the jambs.

' Fig. 3 is an enlarged transversesectional view taken onthe line 3-,3 of Fig. 1. I Y 7 Fig. 4-is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view similar to Fig. 3 showing a modified form of a latch keeper embodying my invention.

In Fig. 1, I have shown a doorway W of a shower stall looking from the inside thereof, and with a door D in closed position in the doorway. As shown in Fig. 3, the side walls I5 and I511 of the doorway are covered with tile l5 and lfia respectively, and itis against the-tiled surfaces of these side walls that door jambs are secured, one for hingedly mountingthe door D thereon, and the other man abutment and latch-keeper-for the door.

The door D is of conventional construction in that it embodies a metallic framell of rectan gular form spanned by a plate 'of glass Ill. The

frame at one free vertical edge is provided with a spring-pressed latch l9 having a' rounded latching element 20 for engagement with the abutment jamb to retain the door in closed position, as will be morev fullydescribed-hereinafter. The door mounting jamb comprises a wall strip S made of metal'and having a web 2! provided at one edge witha narrow flange 22; and at the otherfedge with a wide flange 23, the two flanges extending. a short distance to, the left of the webiFig. 3) to form a groove 24 on that side of the web, in which a suitablesealing plastic 25 is received for sealing the, joint between the stripand the tile l6 when applied to the latter. s

As shown in Fig. 3, the strip Sissecured against the tile l6 by screws 26 extending through ,the tile and into the wall IS. The tile l6 are seldom laid so as to form an even surface for the side of the doorway, they usually presenting an undulated or irregular surface, as illustrated in Fig. 2 In consequence, if a jamb comprising only on a single strip is employed, either gaps are left between the tile and the strip, or the strip is so distorted that it no longer provides a straight edge upon which the door may be properly hung.

, In my invention the strip is constructed with ed with the strip S as to be adjustable transverse- 1y thereon to assume a truly vertical positionin which it may be permanentlyrsecured by the use and 22 and to thereby permit the strip S tube.

adjusted transversely on the strip S. The set screws 21 are threaded in the flange 29 so that.

2,284,074 7 1 p t. t

at what point along the length of the web the their pointed inner ends bite into the flange 23 the web 28b is formed with a longitudinally exwhen screwed home following adjustment of the strip S to a vertical position, and thereby main-.;

taining the strip in vertical position.

Thus it becomes apparent that whether Number 2,136,729 issued-November 15, 1938, for mounting the door D on the jamb, although it will be understood that any suitable form of hinge may beemployed. One tongue 3| of the hinge is formed integral withthe web 28, while the other tongue 32 is made integral with one vertical part of the door frame ,l'l. Thus when the two hinge tongues engage each other as T shown in Fig. 3, thedooris hingedly mounted-on:

thejamb strip S, and by reason of the adjust;- ment of such strip to a vertical position, the door the.v wall strip S is distorted from a straight edge by the unevenly laid tile, or the tile is evenly' laid to present a flat surface or because inbuilding the doorway the side wall I5 is not vertical so e: the type, embodied in myUnited States Patent is properly hung to swing freely to open and closed. positions.

The abutment jamb at the other side of the doorway is likewise made up of two strips, one stripS being of the same construction-as the wall strip S for the door mounting jamb but secured to the side wall l5a of the'doorwaywith its narrow flange 22a to the inner side of the stall. The partsof this wall'strip S and thescrews have been,designated.'in thedrawings by 1 thesame numerals as'used forthe same parts and screws of the door hanging jamb, except the exponent a has been applied. This is also true of the parts of the strip S and the fastening ele ments. 7

The strip S although mounted 0n the strip S for transverse adjustment to assume a vertica -'55 position, differs from the' strip S in its construction of web. As shown in Fig. 3,'the web 28a extends diagonally between the flanges 22a and 23a latch element engages. Thusshould the door for any reason sag after initial hanging so as to change the-vertical'position of the latching element, the latter will still be effective to latch the door in closed position.

In' Fig. 4, 1 have shown a modified form of web 28b for co-action with the latch lement 20 to retain the door-in closed position irrespective of variation in vertical position of the element as a result of sagging of the door. In this instance tending groove 34 in which the latch element 20 is received. 7

In the'two forms of door jambs the flanges 29 and 29a are of such width as to overlap the sides of the door frame when the door is in closed position to span the joints between the jambs and door against the passage of water outwardly of the stall. -The f1a nges 29a have the added function of forming an abutment for the door to.

in width of the doorway, or to lessen the width of the doorway to accommodate an off size door,

and that in eitherevent either rigid and straight strip S or S presents a truly vertical jamb upon which the door may be hung or a vertical or parallel abutment for the door:

Although I have herein shown and described only two forms of door jambs embodying my invention, it is; to be understood that various changes and modifications may be made herein without departing from thespiritof my invention and the spirit and scope of the appended claims. v I

.I claim? r p 1. A door jamb, comprising; a strip having spaced flanges; a second strip having spaced first mentioned strip are received to allow adjustmentof said second strip laterally on the first laterally on the first strip.

2. A doorjamb, comprising; a'strip having spaced flanges; a second'strip having spaced flangesbetween which the said flanges of the first mentionedstrip are received to allow adjustment .of said second strip laterally .on the first strip; and screws at intervals along the length I of one of the flanges of the second strip, each for the entire length of the strip. This construction of web provides akeeper for'the latch element 20 which is effective to. frictionallyretain the door in. closed position irrespective of screw having a pointedendand threaded in said flange to cause the pointedend to bite into the confronting flange of the first mentioned strip. WILLIAM STAHL. 

